What most dont understand about NY gun laws is: normal rifles and shotguns are not firearms.
I kid you not.
Firearms in NY are whatever is defined as regulated and restricted or banned, to wit handguns, assault weapons, short barreled rifles/shotguns, and machineguns.

So: no, they didn’t. Welcome to legalese - words don’t mean what you think they do.

3. “Firearm” means (a) any pistol or revolver; or (b) a shotgun having one or more barrels less than eighteen inches in length; or (c) a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length; or (d)any weapon made from a shotgun or rifle whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise if such weapon as altered, modified, or otherwise has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches; or (e) an assault weapon. For the purpose of this subdivision the length of the
barrel on a shotgun or rifle shall be determined by measuring the distance between the muzzle and the face of the bolt, breech, or breechlock when closed and when the shotgun or rifle is cocked; the overall length of a weapon made from a shotgun or rifle is the distance
between the extreme ends of the weapon measured along a line parallel to the center line of the bore. Firearm does not include an antique firearm.

What most dont understand about NY gun laws is: normal rifles and shotguns are not firearms. I kid you not. Firearms in NY are whatever is defined as regulated and restricted or banned, to wit handguns, assault weapons, short barreled rifles/shotguns, and machineguns. So: no, they didnt. Welcome to legalese - words dont mean what you think they do.

Excellent post. In law, such specifically defined words are called "terms of art," and they are used everywhere.

In fact, they are what Roberts exposed in his Obamacare ruling, and what people didn't bother to learn about before they unfairly damned him.